› added 7 years ago

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TIL Of Shavarsh Karapetyan, a 17x world champion, 10x world record breaking finswimmer who heard a bus crash into a river, saved 20 drowning people, unconscious for 45 days, got sepsis, retired from sport, and later badly burnt himself saving people from a burning building.

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6EgNX TIL of Dipprasad Pun, a Nepalese soldier during the War of Afghanistan who was attacked by 30 insurgents. Believing he was about to die, he expended all 400 rounds of his ammunition, launched 17 grenades, detonated a Claymore mine, and killed an attacker with his tripod, causing them to retreat.
OoQ6R TIL Electrum is the alloy of silver and gold, and humanity's first metal coins were made out of it.
WeyN TIL there is a ruined city on 100 artificial islands linked with canals in the Pacific Ocean dating back to the 1st Century. Scientists do not know how they were constructed. Local legend says they were built by two sorcerers with the aid of a flying dragon.
6Ejdl TIL the Oxpecker not only eats ticks off of African wildlife (like elephants), it also drinks their blood and makes wounds even larger. Scientists now think the birds are actually parasites and NOT an example of mutualism, where both parties benefit.
dD9MB TIL John Quincy Adams was nearly a casualty of the first fatal train accident in US history. The car in which he rode would have overturned had the car behind it not done so first. Of the 24 passengers in the overturned car, 2 died & 21 were injured, including Cornelius Vanderbilt (broken leg).